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Ashoke Viswanathan

{{Short description|Bengali Indian filmmaker and theatre personality}}

{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Ashoke Viswanathan

| image = Ms Ananya Biswas, Director “Between Darkness and Light” and Shri Ashoke Viswanathan, Director “Folk Theatres of Bengal” at a press conference at Black Box.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Ashoke Viswanathan (left) at the IFFI in 2006

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1959}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = Indian

|spouse = Madhumanti Maitra

|children= Anusha

| other_names =

| alma_mater = St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, Film and Television Institute of India

| occupation = Film director

| awards = Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director, National Film Award – Special Jury Award

}}

Ashoke Viswanathan (also Asoke, born in 1959) is a Bengali Indian filmmaker and theatre personality, based in Kolkata, India.{{cite book |editor=Ananda Lal |title=The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=xx, 476 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DftkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ashoke+Viswanathan%22 |isbn=9780195644463 }}{{cite web | url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051217/asp/weekend/story_5590980.asp | archive-url=https://archive.today/20140816071714/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051217/asp/weekend/story_5590980.asp | url-status=dead | archive-date=16 August 2014 | title=Making it work | publisher=The Telegraph | date=17 December 2005 | access-date=16 August 2014}}{{cite book|title=Bhāratīya Painoramā|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5VMAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India|pages=41–42}}

Personal life

Viswanathan is the son of actor N. Viswanathan.{{cite news|title=Actor N Viswanathan dies at 81|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/actor-n-viswanathan-dies-at-81/712886/|access-date=16 August 2014|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=18 November 2010}} He is a Mathematics graduate from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and a graduate in film direction from the Film and Television Institute of India.

He is married to Madhumanti Maitra, a lecturer at a girls' college and an anchor.{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/making-it-work/cid/1538337 | title=Making it work | publisher=Telegraph India | date=17 December 2015 | accessdate=16 September 2021}} He has a daughter, Anusha, who is an actor.{{cite web | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/anusha-viswanathan-to-play-hetal-parekh/articleshow/57717102.cms | title=Anusha Viswanathan to play Hetal Parekh | work=The Times of India | date=19 March 2017 | accessdate=16 September 2021 | author=Ruman Ganguly}}

Career

Viswanathan is currently a Professor and Head of Department of Producing For Film and TV specialisation and Dean (Film Wing) {{cite web | url=http://srfti.ac.in/?page_id=38 | title=Satyajit ray Film & Television Institute }} at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and an occasional lecturer at Jadavpur University.

He has made award-winning features and documentaries, such as 2014's "The Lighthouse, The Ocean and The Sea", an exploration of the intellectual relationships between Rabindranath Tagore, Romain Rolland and Kalidas Nag.{{cite news |author=Prithvijit Mitra |title=Documentary on scholar to explore Tagore-Rolland friendship |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Documentary-on-scholar-to-explore-Tagore-Rolland-friendship/articleshow/39621419.cms |work=The Times of India |date=4 August 2014 |access-date=13 August 2014 }}{{cite news |author=Ranjan Das Gupta |title=Chronicle of interesting friendships |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/chronicle-of-interesting-friendships/article6319330.ece |work=The Hindu |date=15 August 2014 |access-date=15 August 2014 }} Two of Viswanathan's films have won national awards: his debut film "Shunya Theke Shuru" and "Kichu Sanglap Kichu Prolap"{{cite news |author=Gowri Ramnarayan |title=His experiments with films |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/his-experiments-with-films/article599068.ece |work=The Hindu |date=28 August 2010 |access-date=13 August 2014 }}{{cite news |author=S. Rangarajan |title=Untitled |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bKVKAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Ashoke+Viswanathan%22 |volume= 11 |number=16–20 |pages=87 |work=Frontline |date=7 October 1994 |access-date=13 August 2014 }}

He has also directed commercial films like "Sesh Sanghat", starring mainstream actors Jaya Prada and Jackie Shroff,{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movie-reviews/Sesh-Sanghat/movie-review/5185643.cms | title=Sesh Sanghat Movie Review | work=The Times of India | date=1 November 2009 | access-date=16 August 2014}} and "Gumshuda" in Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil ("Vaira Kolaigal"), a whodunit based on Sherlock Holmes, targeted at a mass audience.

He has served as the Chairperson of the Jury for non-feature films for the National Film Awards.{{cite web |title=Jury Profiles |url=http://www.dff.nic.in/Jury%20Profiles.pdf |pages=8 |publisher=Directorate of Film Festivals |date=2014 |access-date=16 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923214059/http://www.dff.nic.in/Jury%20Profiles.pdf |archive-date=23 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}

Three of his feature films and two of his short features have been included in the INDIAN PANORAMA sections of IFFI '94, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2005. His films have been shown at the Commonwealth Film Festival, Manchester, the Pyongyang International Film Festival, the Dhaka International Film Festival, and the Ipswich Film Festival, among others.{{cite web | url=http://www.ashokeviswanathan.com/Resume%27.html | title=Resume | publisher=www.ashokeviswanathan.com | access-date=19 August 2014 | archive-date=22 May 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522140304/http://ashokeviswanathan.com/Resume%27.html | url-status=dead }}

Viswanathan has represented India at the Cambridge Seminar on contemporary British writing, held at Downing College, Cambridge (1997).{{cite web|url=http://www.mindscreen.co.in/ashoke.html |title=Ashoke Viswanathan – Film Director |publisher=.mindscreen.co.in |access-date=19 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819102958/http://www.mindscreen.co.in/ashoke.html |archive-date=19 August 2014 }}

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! width="15%" rowspan="2" scope="col" | Title !! width="4%" rowspan="2" scope="col" | Year!! colspan="4" scope="col" | Credited as !! width="10%" rowspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable"| Notes !! width="1%" rowspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable" |{{abbr|Ref(s)|Reference(s)}}

width=6% |Directorwidth=6% | Writerwidth=6% |Producerwidth=6% | Other
scope="row"|Shunya Theke Shuru

|1993

|{{yes}}

|{{yes}}

|{{no}}

|{{yes}}

|as Ashok Viswanathan

|style="text-align:center;"|

scope="row"|Kichhhu Sanlap Kichhu Pralap

|1999

|{{yes}}

|{{yes}}

|{{yes}}

|{{no}}

|

|style="text-align:center;"|

scope="row"|Byatikrami

|2003

|{{yes}}

|{{no}}

|{{yes}}

|{{yes}}

|planning

|style="text-align:center;"|

scope="row"|Andhakarer Shabdo

|2006

|{{yes}}

|{{yes}}

|{{no}}

|{{no}}

|screenplay

|style="text-align:center;"|

scope="row"|Sesh Sanghat

|2009

|{{yes}}

|

|

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|

scope="row"|1+1=3 Ora Tinjon

|2015

|{{yes}}

|{{no}}

|{{no}}

|{{no}}

|

|style="text-align:center;"|

Awards

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name}}
  • {{Official website}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viswanathan, Ashoke}}

Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:Film directors from Kolkata

Category:Bengali film directors

Category:Director whose film won the Best Debut Feature Film National Film Award